Artiste: Bristol Ensemble

Embarrassing puns aside, the music of Arvo Pärt is hardly the staple fare of late-night revellers on Bristol’s Park Street, especially on a Friday. Tucked just around the corner, though, St George’s was celebrating the end of the long summer drought of live classical music courtesy of the Choir of Royal Holloway – fresh from their tour of the Balkan states – and the Bristol Ensemble.

Benedetti’s Beethoven was changed, at late notice, to Lomeiko’s Tchaikovsky. Sadly, the renowned violinist Nicola Benedetti was not able to make the performance, but her replacement was wonderful. Internationally established Russian violinist and professor at the Royal College of Music, Natalia Lomeiko stepped up to play the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major instead of Beethoven’s concerto.

Beethoven did not take precedence in this concert, but he stole the title. As part of the “Brilliant Beethoven” concert series, the Bristol Ensemble performed the Seventh Symphony of the well-known composer. It was programmed at the end of the evening alongside Debussy, Vivaldi and current composer Alexis Alrich. The theme connecting the different works was rhythm.